Takayama Festival

Hi,

We plan to visit Takayama at 14th-15th April 2013.
Fortunately, the festival will be held in the same dates.
We'd love to enjoy the festival of course, but also want to see other sightseeing spots like Hida no Sato, Old town, morning market, takayama jinya etc, as well.

Would it be possible for us to view them in 15th April, considering the festival will still held in that day?
If not, does it mean we better add one more day in Takayama, so that we can enjoy the town?
Is 2 consecutive days festival too much for us to enjoy or we better go somewhere else (like Furukawa) in 15th April? (we'd love to see as much as place if it is possible)

Thank you in advance :)

Hi mchan07

Still busy planning your spring trip!

We had been to the Takayama autumn festival and the town was jam-packed. The spring festival is said to be bigger and more popular so you can expect the town to be super jam-packed. For the town regular sights it would indeed be better to be there outside the festival dates. When we were there the morning market by the riverbank was taken over by stalls temporarily put up for the festival.

If you want more time for other sites, consider just taking in the festival on Apr 14 when they have both daytime and nighttime parades. There is only daytime parade on Apr 15.

For side trips from Takayama, Shirakawa-go is considered a must and if you are going there you can skip Hida no Sato in Takayama. If you want an onsen experience plus a unique ride on a double-decker ropeway up the mt for some spectacular scenery of the Japanese Alps, consider going to nearby Shin Hotaka.

BTW, you better look up accommodation in Takayama ASAP as the festival is extremely popular.

Hi William-san!
How are you doing? :D

Yes, i am still busy planning our trip, which makes my head hurt, lol..
The rough itinerary is finished, but stil need some adjusment, yet we haven't bought the plane ticket & booked hotel.
Too bad we decided to skip Takayama festival, due to flight date :(

Our itinerary so far is:
- 9 april : Osaka
- 10 -13 : Kyoto + Nara
- 14 - 16 : Kanazawa
- 17 : Shirakawago
- 18 : Takayama
- 19 : Furukawa (Furukawa festival)
- 20 - 22 : Tokyo
- 23 - 24 : Hakone
- 25 : Mito & Hitachi Seaside Park
- 26 : Ashikaga
- 27 : Return to our country with late departure (23.55 @ Haneda Airport)

That's the itinerary so far.
If you have any advice, i'd really love to hear ^^!

Oh, and how about your trip?
Have you settle it? :)

Early April is still cherry blossom season in the Kansai area. While in Osaka a side trip to Yoshino should be considered a must for viewing sakura. They also have a sakura festival with colourful parade on Apr 11-12. We went for it a few years back and fully enjoyed the festive feel and the spectacular sakura view on the mt slope.
http://www.yoshinoyama-sakura.jp/english/flowers.htm
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4152.html
http://www.kinpusen.or.jp/event/hanaku.htm (festival)

A note about the Ashikaga Flower Park, we were there on Apr 25 this year but were quite disappointed as there was practically no wisteria but just a few here and there. End of April to early May should be a better time. The following webpages show you the blooming situation during April and May this year.
http://www.ashikaga.co.jp/parkdayori/flower/2012/04/
http://www.ashikaga.co.jp/parkdayori/flower/2012/05/

Hitachi Seaside Park is also on our upcoming spring trip in 2013, but again we read early to mid May is a better time for the full blooming of nemophila.
http://www.hitachikaihin.go.jp/flowermap/infomation/flower_7.htm
http://www.hitachikaihin.go.jp/fair/haru/index.htm

Kairakuen in Mito is having an azalea festival from April 21 to May 13 this year and hopefully it will be the same next spring.
http://www.kairakuen.u-888.com/tutujimaturi/index.html
http://www.mitokoumon.com/maturi/tutuji/tutuji.html

Although we still haven't firmly fixed our dates yet, most probably we will arrive late April and work ourselves up north to the region of Tohoku for sakura first. During early May we will come back down and revisit Ashikaga Flower Park for wisteria, Hitachi Seaside Park for nemophia and Kairakuen for azalea. That is under the straight order from my boss - my wife!

Hi, William-san
Again, thank you very much for the advices :D
All your advices are very helpful for us.
Actually, i arrange my itinerary, especially Kanazawa's, using the links you gave as guide ^^

We are considering to go to Yoshino to view sakura, but still not quiet sure about it yet.
However, if you recommended that it is a must see for sakura viewing, then we will definitely go there (plus there will be sakura festival there too) :D

About Ashikaga & Hitachi..
Considering we only have time around 20-26 April in Tokyo, do you think it's better for us to skip them & go to another places instead?
Perhaps we can view Tulip in Hitachi, instead of Nemophila? (cross fingers, lol)
If not, can you recommend any nice places to view flowers aside from Ashikaga & Hitachi? :)

Hey flower girl mchan07, or should I call you absent-minded flower girl, lol! Have you forgotten your previous thread!?
http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?1+96103

Tonami Tulip Fair would be an ideal destination for tulips but unfortunately your present itinerary seems a bit too early while you are in Kanazawa. Hitachi Seaside Park is a good choice if you are going to nearby Mito Kairakoen. But as I stated on your earlier post, Sakura Furusato Square and especially Showa Kinen Koen are easily accessible from Tokyo.

Sakura Furusato Square
http://www.city.sakura.lg.jp/0000000042.html

Showa Kinen Koen
http://www.showakinenpark.go.jp/2012_flower_festival/index.html

Yoshino is considered a pilgrimage destination for sakura by the people of Japan and since your time of visit is just right, it is highly recommended. It is an easy side trip from Osaka and you don't need to devote a whole day for it.

And yes, do consider skipping Ashikaga if you cannot be there during the last days of April.

In Tokyo a popular place for azalea during the late April is Nezu-jinja.
http://www.nedujinja.or.jp/tutuji/t.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VlPXIJKHVc&feature=relmfu

Hi, William-san :D
Lmao, i keep that thread exclusively coz most of your suggestion links are there ^^!
I checked every link while working on Kanazawa & flower parks's itinerary, heheheh..

Reading the links you gave us above, i think it'll be better if we replace Ashikaga with Showa Kinen or Sakura Furusato (though we couldn't decide which one to chose yet)
Both look very tempting, but i'm afraid we don't have enough time. Or maybe we should re-arrange our schedules again to make sure we have enough time for both places.

Nezu-jinja looks very tempting too
We'll definitely spare some time to squeeze it in our itinerary ^^!

Actually, tomorrow i will be going to Japan for a week (my first Japan trip n_n)
So i apologize if i couldn't reply your comment here for some time being. I'll definitely reply when i return :)

Thank you very much again, William-san
All your links are really really helpful
Most of them are pretty difficult to find just by googling it
Thanks to your informations, we are able to find many beautiful & attractive places.
We really appreciate it ^^!!

PS: plz send our regards for your wife :D
Too bad we couldn't adjust our trip together since you''ll have yours in late April, while ours is in early April :(

Wow, an early Dec trip and then an early April trip, I should call you RICH flower girl! We want to go over to Japan during Christmas but after our September trip we need to save up, so it has to wait till the Golden Week period next year. Also how we envy you not having have to suffer jet-lag which we have to face every time we return from Japan.

Between the 2 if you have time for just 1 go for Showa Kinen Koen whose flower fields are bigger and have more varieties of flowers including pink moss. Going to Sakura Furusato Square on the other hand may not take that long. It is roughly between Tokyo and Narita Airport. Too bad you are using Haneda and not Narita or else you can go there on your last day before departure.

Thank you for your compliment and wishing you an enjoyable first taste of Japan. Do come back and share your wonderful experience.